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Prep-Schooled

Kate Abney | Photo: Austin Holt | July 10, 2014

With a taste for tradition and blood that runs Lilly Pulitzer pink, these two young entrepreneurs are peacocks among men.

Matt Watson and Stephen Glasgow

With their award-winning startup, Country Club Prep, already taking the national retail scene by storm, Georgia native Matt Watson, 32, and D.C.-area transplant Stephen Glasgow, 33, are poised to become the new faces of bow-ties and brights.

The dashing duo first met at University of Virginia School of Law, where they immediately noticed a kindred fashion sense. After graduation, the leisure-seekers settled in Buckhead, both snagging jobs at top-shelf law firms, but around 2010, a new idea started brewing.

Moonlighting as businessmen, they began to build an e-commerce site dedicated to the world of preppy goods. At first, their side gig consumed only nights and weekends, but as sales skyrocketed, they knew they’d have to go full mast to keep up.

Since launching CCP officially in 2012, it’s grown a staggering 600 percent every year. Head- quartered in a 12,000-square-foot Westside warehouse and shipping hub, it corrals more than 100 handpicked brands of prep-set clothing and accessories in one place. Lines like Jack Rogers, Sperry Top-Sider and Atlanta’s own Southern Proper are more popular than ever.

“Preppy clothes aren’t the necessity for getting into the event anymore; the event is the excuse to wear the preppy clothes,” Glasgow says. Whereas blue blazers and bow ties were once required attire for work or weddings, they’re now an excuse to have fun, adds Watson, who, like Glasgow, gravitates toward over-the-top statement pieces like seersucker suits and Smathers & Branson belts.

With plans to open 10 brick-and-mortar stores over the next three years, they’re gearing up for future ATL trunk shows. Besides the fashion, cocktails, bocce ball and grilled brats should be big draws. Till then, you might spy these guys putting outside The Optimist or imbibing over at Treehouse Restaurant and Pub. Just look for the pink pants. @ccprep